A little inspiration goes a long way

Sometimes you come across a motorcycle that speaks to you on a very basic level. For me, those motorcycles tend to be v-twin or single cylinder cafe racers and classic racing bikes. So when I saw some photos of the work done by Sepp Koch using Yamaha's XV/TR1 engine, I knew that was the direction I was to take for my next project. Sepp Koch TR1 racebike

It's been a long time since I first saw a Yamaha TR1 engine. It was a photo of a cutaway display engine on the cover of a book in the shop of the UK's National Motorcycle Museum,and I plainly remember thinking what a nice job Yamaha had done in creating such a beast, but never really thought about it again. Fast forward to 2012, and while wrapping up my 1969 Harley-Davidson Ironhead Sportster project my mind turns once again to cafe racers. As awesome as an Ironhead cafe racer would be, my own project eventually took a different turn (see below), leaving me desiring a cafe racer once again.

So here's to a new project, powered by a Japanese v-twin in an interesting frame.